A Map of Where It Happened

So this is where most of the events of the Hatfield McCoy took place. This map does a good job of giving readers the birds-eye view. The Tug River runs from lower right to upper left. Eventually, downstream, the Tug runs into the Big Sandy, which in turns runs into the Ohio River at Ashland, KY. In the Tug Valley, we define ourselves by the creek we live on. I grew up on Blackberry Creek, farther down in the lower left corner than the map goes. To the right of Blackberry Creek on this map is Peter Creek (originally named Peter’s Creek after Peter Cline, grandfather of Perry Cline and one of the area’s first settlers. Blackberry Creek itself was settled around 1815 by two Hatfield brothers - Joseph, and Valentine, and Joseph’s brother-in-law, Ferrell Evans. A few years later, two more half-brothers came - George and Jeremiah - along with their parents, Ephraim “Eph of All” Hatfield and Annie Musick Bundy Hatfield. At last as 1890, almost all of Blackberry Creek was owned and farmed by members of the Hatfield family, or folks who had married Hatfield daughters.

About 1831, Valentine Hatfield and wife Mattie moved across the river into West Virginia, along with all of their children. Valentine and Mattie were Devil Anse’s grandparents. So three fourths of the Hatfields lived in Kentucky and one fourth lived in West Virginia.

The McCoy family had settled well-off this map, but two McCoy brothers - Samuel (Sally’s father) and Daniel (Ran’l’s father) moved into the Tug Valley. Samuel and his large family lived on the upper left of this map, where it refers to Floyd Hatfield’s pig pen. Daniel lived on the West Virginia side of the river. By the time of the feud, the McCoy family were distributed on both sides of the river.

From the Huntington Herald Dispatch newspaper.